Catalog Item Request approval

[himanibbhat]

Suppose for a particular Catalog item. I want an approval on the request. Can we do this in service now? If yes, then how?

[AndersBGS]

Hi @himanibbhat ,

This is basic OOTB by flow designer ask for approval action.

[Bhuvan]

@himanibbhat 

Yes, it is a basic functionality of ServiceNow and is definitely doable.

Best practices is to define this in Flow Designer. Flow Designer provides low code/no code option to configure your process flow. Flow consists of sub flows & actions and helps in automating the process based on a trigger condition [for example, catalog item record is created in a table].

Refer out of box flow 'Service Catalog item request' for reference. You can duplicate a flow and add or update custom actions to make it suit your process requirements.

You can refer subflow 'Service Fulfillment Steps - Custom approval' for reference 

If this helped to answer your query, please mark it helpful & accept the solution.

Thanks,

Bhuvan

[Bhuvan]

@himanibbhat 

Did you get a chance to review this ?

If my response helped to answer your query, please mark it helpful & accept the solution.

Thanks,

Bhuvan

[prerna_sh]

Hi @himanibbhat 

Yes, you can do it. 

To set this up in Flow Designer, here’s the easiest and most recommended approach using the "Ask for approval" action:
1. Navigate to Flow Designer.

2. Set up your trigger conditions based on when you want the flow to start.

3. Next, depending on your needs, you can either use Get catalog variable or Lookup record to pull the necessary data.

4. Finally, add the Ask for approval action and specify all the details and requirements for the approval process.

Go through the following docs, these are helpful:
https://www.servicenow.com/community/workflow-automation-articles/flow-designer-approvals-overview-w...
https://www.servicenow.com/community/workflow-automation-forum/flow-designer-approvals-for-catalog-i...
https://www.servicenow.com/docs/bundle/zurich-build-workflows/page/administer/flow-designer/referenc...

Also, you can check the OOB Flow Designer, as mentioned by @Bhuvan   

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If my response solves your query, please marked helpful by selecting Accept as Solution and Helpful. Let me know if anything else is required.
Thanks,
Prerna

[pranita-24]

Hi @himanibbhat 

Yes, you can configure approvals for a specific Catalog Item in ServiceNow. The recommended way is to use Flow Designer with the Approval action.

Steps:

1.Open the Catalog Item

Navigate to Service Catalog > Catalog Definitions > Maintain Items.

Open the item for which you want approvals.

2.Associate a Flow

On the Catalog Item form, go to the Process Engine tab.

In the Flow field, create/select a Flow.

3.Create Flow in Flow Designe

Go to Flow Designer > New Flow.

Set the Trigger to Service Catalog → Requested Item Created.

Add a condition for the specific Catalog Item (e.g., Catalog Item is Laptop Request).

4.Add Approval Action
Inside the Flow, click + Add Action → search Approvals → Ask For Approval.

Configure the action:

Record: Trigger → Requested Item

Approvers: choose Requested for’s Manager, specific user(s), or a group.

Define what happens on Approve vs Reject (default is continue/terminate).

5.Add Post-Approval Actions

After the approval step, you can add actions like:

Create fulfillment tasks

Send notifications

Update the Requested Item state
If my answer helped you, please mark it - Solution accepted. 
Thanks,
Pranita D